In U.S. Pat. No. 5,305,244 (Newman et al), a hands-free, user-supported portable computer is disclosed. In Newman et al, this disclosed compact mobile computer is now commercially available from Xybernaut Corporation of Fairax, Va., successfully commercialized a under the registered trademark "Mobile Assistant.RTM.". U.S. Pat. No. 5,305,244 contains the specifics of the Mobile Assistant.RTM. in both construction and function; U.S. Pat. No. 5,305,244 and its disclosure is incorporated by reference into this disclosure. Also, U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/538,194 filed on Oct. 2, 1995 and owned by the same entity as the present application, discloses further variations of the Mobile Assistant.RTM. including activation means other than voice activation means. The disclosure of Ser. No. 08/538,194 is also incorporated by reference into this present disclosure. In both U.S. Pat. No. 5,305,244 and U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/538,194, a mobile, body-worn computer apparatus is disclosed having means for attachment of the computer and display to a user. The Mobile Assistant.RTM. is very lightweight, versatile and efficient and can be used in ways other stand alone or laptop computers may not be used.
Laptop computers are portable but not to the extent and versatility of the Mobile Assistant.RTM.; i.e. they are not intended to be worn and are not suitable for hands-free use as is the Mobile Assistant.RTM.. A laptop computer gives mobility to users who need to access, view, store, enter, manipulate and communicate information both as a stand alone system and as a remote computer communicating with other computer systems while away from their homes or offices.
While the term "laptop" will be used to define the base computer throughout this disclosure, it is intended that any computer such as another mobile computer, stand alone or stationary computers will be included as the "base computer" containing a detachable mobile computer (core computer). Also, the terms "stand alone" or "stationary computer" includes laptop, desktop or other suitable base computers.
To illustrate the use of the present invention, consider if an electric power company gives each of their field service technicians laptop computers configured with all standard components (processor, memory, non-volatile storage, etc.) including a 3.5 inch floppy disk for loading technical data received from manufacturers into their laptop computers. This is adequate if manufacturers distribute their technical information on 3.5 inch floppy disks. But what happens when the field service technician receives technical data for troubleshooting and repairing GE transformer equipment on CD-ROM? Since the technician's laptop only has a 3.5 inch floppy drive and not a CD-ROM reader, the technician would not be able to work on that manufacturer's type of transformer using that computer.
A solution provided by some laptop manufacturers gives the laptop owners the ability to mix and match the functionality of their laptop computers by allowing the swapping in and out of components. In the above example, the field service technician needs only to swap out the floppy disk drive and replace it with a CD-ROM drive to use the information provided by GE for repairing their transformer equipment. This solution is practical from a functionality point of view--the technician can now access needed technical information from the CD-ROM in the laptop. But what happens when the transformer is located at the top of a telephone pole and is only accessible to the technician by climbing the pole? A technician will eventually need to leave his laptop to work in an environment that prohibits carrying his computer even though the technician needs information from the computer.
This type of situation is common and it is when the most portable laptop computers cease to be useful. The need for a technician to be totally hands-free to perform a given function while simultaneously accessing, manipulating and viewing information contained on the laptop computer is imperative in these situations. Whether needing two hands for climbing a telephone pole, working on or carrying a component or maneuvering around or in an awkward device, handling or attempting to use a laptop while carrying out such acts is impractical and can be very dangerous.
The solution to this problem would be a system that would (1) function as a standard laptop (or other) computer, (2) provide all the basic components and ports, (3) operate in environments that are favorable (i.e. safe) to operating laptop or stationary computers and (4) when necessary, provide the ability to detach the "core" system, attach it to the technician's body and allow the technician to continue to operate in non-favorable situations with either a Head Mounted Display (HMD), other body-worn displays and/or speech recognition with confirmation or speech back only, speech input and/or output, and other types/means. Thus, a solution would be to provide a two-in-one structure containing a laptop and a detachable unit that can be used as a body-worn hands-free computer of the type described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,305,244.